New suit seeks redrawing for Assembly, too

ALBANY — New York’s Assembly district lines are facing another legal challenge after two previous attempts to overturn the maps failed last week.

The bipartisan lawsuit was made public on Monday as new state Senate and congressional maps drawn by a court-appointed special master were released.

Filed in Manhattan Supreme Court by Democratic activist Gary Greenberg and Gavin Wax, the head of the New York Young Republican Club, the legal challenge calls for the Assembly maps to be tossed and the state’s primary elections to be held on the same day.

“No one disputes that the state Assembly district lines are unconstitutional, and the court now has the opportunity to ensure that a free and fair election is held,” said Aaron Foldenauer, an election lawyer who filed the lawsuit. “This emergency proceeding is necessary because the two establishment parties have been attempting to justify an illegal act by running out the clock.”

The Court of Appeals, New York’s highest court, ruled last month that the Dem-led Legislature lacked the authority to draw up congressional and state Senate maps earlier this year after an independent redistricting commission failed to reach a consensus.

The Republican-backed lawsuit that led to the decision did not challenge the legality of the Assembly maps, so they were not included in the panel’s ruling. As a result, congressional and state senate primaries have been moved to August as a court-appointed independent expert draws up nonpartisan maps. Assembly and gubernatorial primaries are still scheduled for June 28.

A pair of legal filings from Greenberg and Wax were dismissed last week by Steuben County Supreme Court Judge Patrick McAllister, who said it was too late to redraw the Assembly lines.

The new lawsuit, which also lists Democratic gubernatorial candidate Paul Nichols as a petitioner, argues that the only fair move is to consolidate the primaries and redraw all districts. That would also mean reopening petitioning for statewide candidates including the governor’s race. “The voters deserve constitutionally correct legislative districts and candidates gaining signatures in the correct districts,” Greenberg said in a statement. “Only moving the primary day to occur on one day, redrawing all districts to comply with constitutional requirements and collecting signatures in the new districts will ensure fair and competitive elections.”